Notes on Editing

Space-Time Relations

(based on Noel Burch, The Theory of Film Practice)

See also the EDITING section of the GLOSSARY

TIME

indefinite time reversal or flashback, where we jump backwards a long way in time.
short time reversal: a small step back in time, for example to show an action from another direction
absolute temporal continuity: where screen time and real time are in synch
time ellipsis or abridgement, when you jump over a section of the action top get to the interesting or significant part
indefinite time ellipsis or flash-forward, as when we jump over a long stretch of time to see the characters 'ten years later'

SPACE

spatial continuity: in which shots are cut together from within the same scene, even though they may be separated in time (eg a door shown closing on young lovers may open again to show them as mature parents)
spatial proximity, for example a cut from one side of a door to the other, or from one room to a neighbouring room
spatial discontinuity, as in 'meanwhile back at the ranch', cutting between any two spaces that are not contiguous

Crossing the Line (The 180 degree rule)

In contuinuity editing, scenes are analysed into their constitutent parts (eg establishing shot (showing the whol;e layout), two-shots (showing two protagonists discussing something), shot-reverse shot structure (cutting from MCU of one character to MCU of another as they talk) and CUs of significant objects or small gestures.

In order for these to be appreciated as taking place within a single space, the formula is that the camera can be placed anywhere on one side of an imaginarty line drawn through the scene (This is called the 180 degree rule because the camera can be placed anywhere on an arc of 180 degrees on one side of the line: an angle of 180 degrees is a straight line)

Here is the idea in graphic form:

Looked at from above, cameras 1, 11 and 1111 are on the correct side of the line. Camera 111 is on the wrong side.

Camera 1 sees both characters face to face, like this

Camera Two Looks over Lite's shoulder to see Dark's face, like this:

Camera 4 reverses the angle, to look over Dark's shoulder to see Light's face, like so:

But camera 3 reverses the spatial realtionship between them, so that Dark appears to be on Light's left, thus confusing the viewer and disturbing the spatial continuity which continuity editing seeks to produce:

Continuous camera movement and the description of space

We also looked at a more recent innovation, the use of cranes and steadicam to produce dynamic descriptions of a specific space, such as the Jack Rabbit Slim's set in Pulp Fiction, where the camera crosses the line repeated following John Travolta through the set, but in the process gives us all the information we need to understand the spatial relationshi[s between characters.

In another example, from The Abyss, we saw how the editor cutts between a fluidly moving point-of-view shot from the 'eye' of the pseudopod to a shot-reverse shot scene in which it first meets the two protagonists of the film.

Also see the EDITING section of the GLOSSARY